


Strangers in Nibelheim

by Jezebunny



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-06-06 01:53:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6733186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jezebunny/pseuds/Jezebunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new family moves into Nibelheim, and no one's quite sure what to think of the Fairs. </p><p>a.k.a. I just want everyone to be happy, even (especially) Cloud's mom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Claudia

****

Claudia adjusted the basket she was carrying on her hip, distributing the weight of the mended clothes she was toting back into town more evenly. Her own clothes, both more sensible and drab than the ones she carried in her basket, shielded her from the stiff winds that persisted even now, at the start of Nibelheim’s short summer.

“Mrs. Strife!” A familiar voice called from ahead, attached to a friendly face.

“It’s Strauss.” Claudia smiled thinly before returning the greeting. “Mrs. Lockhart.”

The older woman smiled up at her, clearly ignoring the correction.

“Good morning, dear! I wanted to tell you about the newcomers! Mrs. Fair and her… boys moved in just a few days ago- into the old Bernfield place just down a ways from the square. Almost everybody’s already met her, but you and your boy live so far out that we didn’t get a chance to introduce you all just yet.” 

“Is that so?” Claudia shifted under the weight of the other woman’s expectant stare. “Well, lead the way, then, if you’re not too busy, ma’am.”

Mrs. Lockhart’s dark brown eyes scrunched near-closed from the force of her smile, and Claudia couldn’t help but slowly smile back. The woman could aggravate her to no end, but she appreciated the genuine cheerfulness in a town that seemed determined to hold her down in a constant low simmering pool of contempt. Despite her own conservative values, Mrs. Lockhart was likely also familiar with the wade, being the daughter of Wutaian immigrants to the Eastern continent, especially now with the war on.

“No need for the ma’am, hon’. Follow me! How was the work mending my Brian’s shirt? I know he tore it but good, trying to help with the Gublers’ roof.” 

“Oh, it was no trouble; I patched it up just fine. You know I appreciate the work.” Claudia kept up easily with Mrs. Lockhart’s short steps, and they made it quickly the rest of the way to the village.

Well, the village square, which was the village, so far as most were concerned. Claudia repeated the smile she’d practiced just after moving here as she and Mrs. Lockhart made their way through. Thankfully, Mrs. Lockhart didn’t dally, and they were quickly past. The Bernfield’s old house was only a few hundred feet beyond the square, left abandoned after the family had moved on to North Corel simply because there weren’t enough people living in the town to fill it. Two children, who looked to be roughly Cloud’s age, were running along the trail, dark haired heads bobbing. 

The boys ground quickly to a stop upon spotting the two women, however, turning around and shouting in somewhat eerie chorus: “Mother! Mrs. Lockhart’s back!”

“Hello!” Mrs. Lockhart laughed loudly, approaching the boys. Claudia hung back, steeling herself for pleasantries; hopefully this Mrs. Fair wouldn’t be too terribly chatty and she’d be able to return her mending and head quickly back to the house.

“Why hello!” A woman with long, brown hair emerged from the wooden building; her happiness at receiving guests visible even from the several yards that separated her from the small group. Another child followed her out of the house, trailing her closely even as he stared at the visitors. All three of the children had hair in the same dark, flat color, which hung lank on their heads. It was a stark contrast to their… very young mother, whose hair bounced in its braid as she walked.

“It’s so nice to see you again, Mrs. Lockhart! And nice to meet you, too,” Mrs. Fair closed the distance quickly, reaching out to shake Claudia’s hand. Her wide, green eyes practically glowed with energy.

Claudia took her hand as Mrs. Lockhart quickly took over, saving her from having to speak immediately. She was thankful for this, still unsteady in the face of so much positive energy.

“Mrs. Fair, this is Mrs. Claudia Strife! She lives a ways out from town- on the opposite end, you see, so that’s why she hadn’t had the chance to meet you or your boys yet! She has a boy about the age of your youngest, I think- maybe a little older, since I know you said that he was six, which is my Tifa’s age. Oh, and Mrs. Strife, this is Mrs. Aerith Fair, so sorry to forget to introduce you. Now, Mrs. Fair, where’d that man of yours get off to?” Mrs. Lockhart finished with a question, looking back at the house inquisitively.

Mrs. Fair laughed, holding her hand over her mouth as she did so. She’d already taken Claudia’s hand, shaken it a few times, and let go in the time that Mrs. Lockhart had been talking.

“He just left this morning, had to head over to North Corel for work.” The two boys who’d already been outside fell into line next to their mother, and now Claudia could see more of a resemblance; they all had green eyes too, and one was squirming with energy she thought almost matched that which their mother clearly possessed. Their father must just have… terrible hair.

“Oh! Mrs. Strife, these are my boys: Yazoo, Loz, and Kadaj,” She gestured to each in turn, last to the child behind her, almost clinging to her skirts. Claudia couldn’t help herself, smiling at the… foreign-sounding names, although she made sure to pull her face back into positive neutral with a brush of a free hand through her hair.

“It’s Strauss,” Claudia softly corrected. “Ms. Strauss. I do a lot of the mending around here, if you need any help with yours.” Mrs. Lockhart laughed politely and waved her hand as if to dismiss the correction, once again. She’d likely air Claudia’s dirty laundry later with Mrs. Fair while Claudia was repairing her husband’s.

“She does great work,” Mrs. Lockhart tacked on, patting Claudia’s arm before looking down at the boys. “Now, have the three of you seen my Tifa? She ran off earlier this morning to play with some friends, but I didn’t see her in the square with all of the other children.”

The oldest boy (or at least the first introduced) stepped forward, shaking his head. “No, Mrs. Lockhart. We haven’t seen her today.” His face showed that he was largely unconcerned, unlike his more-worried looking brothers.

“Perhaps she’s playing with Cloud?” Claudia suggested, “He left earlier, too.” The three children jerked abruptly, the youngest actually grabbing onto Mrs. Fair’s skirts to keep himself from falling. Claudia felt her eyebrows raising in concern as Mrs. Fair gently smoothed down Kadaj’s hair, and the other two boys quickly straightened after their bizarre stumbling fit.

Oh… perhaps it was because of the name?

“Cloud’s my son; it’s an old family name,” She quickly informed the Fairs. It was a bit of a white lie. She’d planned on naming him ‘Claude’, after her grandfather (who she herself had been named after), but the man at her bedside, who’d filled out the birth certificate and registered her son’s birth, had written ‘Cloud’ for whatever reason. The fee to change it was expensive, and Claudia, a little more uncertain and superstitious at seventeen, had decided that it was some sort of sign.

“That could be!” Mrs. Lockhart agreed reassuringly, even though she was the one Claudia was trying to reassure.

“Cloud usually plays behind Mrs. Lickert’s house, when he’s not at home; I can stop by on my way back up to the house and see if Tifa’s there,” Claudia offered.

“Old Widow Lickert’s?” Mrs. Lockhart echoed. “No, don’t trouble yourself, Mrs. Strife; I’ll run over now. I’d been meaning to check on her anyways, see whether she needs my Brian’s help chopping wood still now that Spring’s come. It’s warmed up a lot, but old bones need more heat, so the two of us weren’t sure.” 

Mrs. Fair looked between the two of them, smile fading a little into uncertainty. She opened her mouth, as if to speak, before closing it again. Claudia wondered what she’d wanted to say, but Mrs. Lockhart quickly distracted her, continuing on.

“It was nice seeing you again, Mrs. Fair, boys. Tell me or my Brian if you need any help settling in!” And like that, Mrs. Lockhart strolled away, leaving Claudia in a situation she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable in.

“Well!” Mrs. Fair quickly broke the silence, “Ms. Strauss, would you like to come in? Have something to drink?” Loz and Yazoo began to shift, seeming like they’d had just about enough of this standing still business, but also reluctant to leave their mother’s side. It was sweet how they seemed to cluster around her, like they were protecting her while their father was away.

“Oh, no. I wouldn’t want to impose, and I need to deliver this laundry.” Claudia quickly made her excuses, hoping to escape the encounter as soon as possible. She didn’t have anything interesting to talk about, and she disliked chit-chatting, especially with strangers.

“You wouldn’t be imposing at all! Please come in,” Mrs. Fair pressed, reaching out to clasp Claudia’s free hand, which had hung loosely at her side. Claudia flinched and pulled away.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve really got to be on my way.” Claudia deflected, stepping backwards. The children all seemed to be staring at her, worsening Mrs. Fair’s concerned and disappointed expression.

“Well, alright, but you must stop by later! You and your son… Cloud, was it? Have an open invitation, right boys?”

None of the boys said anything, but Loz nodded in agreement. Claudia… failed to be reassured.

“Sure,” she agreed, simply wanting to get away and feeling disappointed in herself now that she’d gotten Mrs. Fair to back off. But she really wasn’t in the mood to sit around and gossip, only to be gossiped about as soon as her shadow left the doorstep.

“Goodbye,” Claudia smiled again nervously before turning and following Mrs. Lockhart. When she looked over her shoulder, halfway there, the family was still standing in the same place, watching her leave. It was... disconcerting, even with Mrs. Fair’s sweet waving and distant call of goodbye.


	2. Cloud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud pov

Cloud stumbled as he chased after Tifa, trying his best to keep up (and failing). They were playing tag out behind one of the village houses, although the game had quickly degenerated into Cloud trailing behind Tifa as she wove between the trees. She looked back at him, grinning, before jerking her head forward and  _ speeding up _ . Cloud groaned internally.

“Ugh!” Well, okay- he groaned externally. “I’ll… never catch up!” he huffed, dramatically.

Tifa giggled, coming to a stop as Cloud did, although maintaining her distance.

“Are you givin’ up?” she asked sweetly. She had other friends to play with, after all; she could find something else to do if Cloud wasn’t fun anymore.

“No! I just… need a break!” he answered determinedly before falling onto the grass. Tifa laughed again, sitting down to wait. Cloud panted, staring up at the bits of sky he could see through the pine trees that hugged the village. The sun was nearing its zenith, but enough light was shielded that Cloud could see safely, without getting those awful lingering shadows on his vision.

“I think…” Tifa began, “that your hair looks like straw. Do monsters ever try to eat your hair, Cloud?” Cloud sat up immediately, offended.

“No it doesn’t!”

“Well why does it stick up so much then? My hair doesn’t do that! Nobody else’s does neither.”

“It’s not straw!” Cloud insisted, tugging at his hair to double check. Tifa stood up and walked closer, reaching out a hand to touch his hair, too, having seen him do it. Cloud took the opportunity to tap her leg.

“You’re it now!” 

“Hey! That’s cheating!” Tifa’s face scrunched in anger or upset, before a voice cut her off.

“Tifa! There you are!” Tifa’s mom came bustling around the side of the house, face a more mature echo of Tifa’s. “I was looking for you- it’s almost time for lunch, and we were going to read together, remember?”

“Yes, ma,” Tifa agreed, bad mood forgotten. “Bye Cloud!” she smiled at him before patting him on the head. “You’re it!” She jogged over to her mother before Cloud could stand up, and the two quickly disappeared back around the house.

“That wasn’t fair…” Cloud muttered to himself, ignoring his own previous lack of sportsmanship. He tugged some grass out of the ground dispiritedly, tearing it up in his hands. He didn’t have anything to do now, except wander around the village or go home. He could try to see if anyone else would want to play, but Tifa was really the only reason he’d normally get to play with them, since they all already had each other to play with.

Sighing dramatically, Cloud stood, meandering around the backs of the houses. They were pretty boring from this side; most of them didn’t have windows on the side opposite the village, and nobody really had reason to be back here most of the time. It was still close enough to the village that he wasn’t likely to encounter any monsters though; his mom always told him not to wander too far off, or they’d get him… maybe even eat his hair, like Tifa’d said. Cloud shuddered at the thought, suddenly thankful for the bright sunlight that allowed him to see into the forest for a distance. Probably no monsters near here.

“Hey.” Cloud shrieked and jumped at the abrupt noise, turning to face its source. It was one of the village kids… probably? He didn’t look very familiar. 

“Are you alright?” the boy asked, mouth dropped open a little at Cloud’s reaction.

“I-I’m fine!” Cloud insisted, not wanting to admit that he’d been afraid.

Despite the obvious lie, the other boy nodded his assent.

“Okay. You’re Cloud.” Cloud squinted, abruptly suspicious.

“Your eyebrows are a different color than your hair.” The other boy squinted back, pale blond eyebrows scrunching down blending almost into his paler skin.

“It’s not safe to dye your eyebrows, Cloud.” 

“Oh. Okay.” Cloud didn’t really have anything else to say, and it seemed like the other boy didn’t either. They stood in silence for a good thirty seconds, Cloud eventually beginning to just sort of… edge away… a little bit.

“Do you want to meet my brothers?” The other boy said, finally, interrupting Cloud’s slow retreat.

“Uh, sure.” To be honest, Cloud had thought he already knew the other boy and had just forgotten. It was a little hard for him to tell the other children apart sometimes, especially the brunettes. 

“Follow me,” the boy gestured Cloud over with one hand before turning more gracefully than any kid had right to and walking away. Cloud followed him slowly- and hadn’t he been doing a lot of following today already.

“What’s your name?” Cloud asked, eyes wandering from the forest to the boy and back again. He should know, probably.

“Yazoo.” 

Cloud giggled helplessly, even though he was already familiar with the humiliation that came when others laughed at his own name. The other boy didn’t seem to mind… or care about anything, really. Why had he invited Cloud if he didn’t want to talk to him? Maybe he was planning some sort of prank? Cloud was pulled from his thoughts  as they arrived at a nondescript house on the opposite end of town from Cloud’s own home. They traipsed through the ‘backyard’- the dirt looked like someone’d been digging back here- and around to the front. Another boy was laying on the porch steps, although he practically fell upwards once he spotted the two of them. 

“Yazoo! You brought Cloud...” he trailed off, wiping at his nose.

“Don’t-” Yazoo began, before a third boy emerged from the house, smaller than the other two (and even Cloud!), with eyes wide.

“Cloud?” The youngest boy pushed his brown hair out of his eyes, staring intently at Cloud.

“How come all y’all know my name?” Cloud wondered, as the oddity of the situation finally occurred to him, “And just how many brothers do you even have, Yazoo?”

“...” Yazoo smiled at Cloud, but didn’t answer the second question. The youngest stepped in though, distracting Cloud.

“Your mother was here earlier. An hour ago, maybe.” He murmured, standing closer than Cloud was used to people usually standing when talking to him. Cloud hummed.

“Oh.”

“There are five of us!” The sniffling boy added, answering the question his brother hadn’t.

“Five brothers?” Cloud asked, eyes landing on the forest, even though it wouldn’t make sense for them to be there at all, would it?

“There’s mother and father and the three of us.” Yazoo said smoothly. 

“You are our brother, too.” the smallest blurted immediately after. The sniffler looked about as confused as Cloud felt.

“No, I’m not! That doesn’t make sense! Our moms and dads are different.” Cloud said with a sense of superiority.

The sniffling brother was suddenly crying. Cloud’s nose scrunched up.

“Only babies cry!” he declared, only to be answered by an increased flood of tears. Yazoo frowned, and the smallest brother laughed.

“Don’t cry, Loz,” he giggled. Loz turned and ran inside. Cloud was upset too, but he couldn’t explain why. Yazoo stepped in front of him, and Cloud stepped back.

“We’ll play later, Cloud,” the smallest said pleasantly, although his voice disconcertingly seemed to come from Yazoo. Cloud frowned, but before he could say anything, he heard a woman’s voice coming from the house. He turned and ran, not wanting to be scolded by their mother. 

“Cloud,”

A clear, high voice nonetheless stopped him cold. 

“Come back, please,”

Eyes on the ground, he shuffled around and back to the house. He could see all three brothers in his peripheral vision, Loz now hanging onto the back of his mother’s skirts. She crouched to be at eye level, and Cloud focused on his bare, dirty toes.

“Cloud, look at me,” the woman braced her palms on her knees, tilting her head until she managed to catch his gaze. 

“Cloud.” He looked up at her, finally, clenching his fists to keep them from shaking.

“Do you really think that only babies cry?” Her brow was furrowed with a gentle concern, “I cry sometimes, too. Does that make me a baby?”

Cloud frowned for a second, processing, before he came up with the obvious answer.

“Y-you’re a girl, though. Girls cry, too.” He said, voice almost steady. From the woman’s face, this wasn’t the answer she was looking for. 

“Cloud…” she started, sounding incredibly disappointed, “Boys are allowed to cry. There’s no shame in it…” she sighed. 

“That’s not true!” Cloud disagreed, vehemently. “Everyone says so! It’s not my fault that he’s a baby!” He turned around and ran for real this time, booking it before the woman could say anything else to him. His own traitor eyes began leaking as he ran, but he told himself it was just the wind in his eyes and resolved to avoid the house with the strange brothers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow writing aerith was really hard here and i think it needs revising  
> if you have characterization suggestions, please hmu

**Author's Note:**

> I have real notes but they're on a different computer than the one I'm posting on. Claudia's name was taken from the wiki (I think) and personal headcanon about her marriage status.


End file.
